A Big Birthday Fish

I rode along with captain Michael and Mate John on the Pips 36 yesterday to teach them a few tricks about wreck fishing. Their guests Mike and Micheal, (lord there was a bunch of Mikes on board) just wanted Micheal to catch something big for his 16th birthday. After loading up with blue runners and yellowtails for bait we headed to the 7 mile rubble.

There I went up top to show the captain several spots that hold fish. With the wind, holding a good drift requires a little bumping in and out of gear and a little more patience than normal. It took about 45 minutes to get the first Amberjack to the boat. A decent fish of 20 plus pounds that had Micheal the angler pretty stoked. Then I let the captain take over and went down to the pit to give John a few tips. The next AJ topped the scales at 51 pounds. Mission accomplished.

Some more Photos are at Captain Pips Facebook page.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Fillet Pro Fish Cleaning Table

All the shipping issues have been resolved and the Captain Dallas approved Fillet Pro fish cleaning table is ready to roll. For my blog regulars there is a special discount code and for a limited number of do it yourself types a DIY code. For the DIY code you have to agree to build and photograph your complete table set up us to check out. The most impressive fish cleaning table set up will win a prize like a dozen Dallas Darts for whacking tuna and dolphin.

The Fillet Pro retails for $499. The Blog follower discount is $50. So for $399 you can get your own fillet pro cheaper than your non-blog reading buddies or tell your friends how to get their own discount.

The Fillet Pro blog page is online so click the Fillet Pro link here or on the side bar. I am going to sticky this post until the new page is ready for the fish cleaning table.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

A Little Trolling and Dropping 101

Sunday I had Dave from Alaska, son Guy, Uncle Guy and Jake on board for a little trolling and wreck fishing 101. They tried to fish with me a while back but I was booked. This time we where able to hook up so I could show them a few tricks. The bait catching portion of the trip went perfectly with plenty of pilchards and ballyhoo in the live well within twenty minutes.

The trolling part of the lesson was a bit disappointing. We never saw a sailfish and the dolphin though plentiful were small. We did box one decent dolphin, and fat Cobia and one little tunny for shark bait later.

Wreck fishing though was pretty sweet. We lost a few big ones but boated two Amber Jack for the smoker. Every drift produced at least one hook up though the sharks confiscated much of our hook ups. We had to release a bunch of grouper that beat the mangroves to the bait on the patches. All in all it was a good day that could have been better if the sharks were on vacation.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

A quick Post on What's Happening

While I am still working on moving the house boat around to help the new owner get ready for his trip to Ramrod Key I just have to post something on what everyone else is doing.

The Blue Magic took a fun day with the Bell Boys, Steve the mate, with captain Bucko running the boat. They headed west to American Shoal and released 10 sailfish. That is pretty hot fishing! The fish chewed better around the Big Pine area but the was more fish to the west.

Captain Jeff Knapp went 1 for 7 on tarpon last night at the 7 Mile Bridge. The fish landed was about 80 pounds and caught on a Pinfish. Pinfish and lures after dark produced the jump offs on fish from about 20 to near 100 pounds. So the fish are there for you tarpon fans.

The snapper and mack bite is still on but the sails and tarpon have dominated the action. Muttons, AJ's and some surprisingly big Lane snapper are being caught on the wrecks with lanes mainly on the shallower wrecks and the AJ's on the deeper ones in 180 to 240 foot of water.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Bare Bones Charters?

I had a nice long conversation with the Coast Guard about my function as a guide without a current Captain's license just the other day. There was an issue over who books the trip. This trip was through Captain Pips and for convenience I let Pips book the trips for me so that customers can use their credit cards. I let Pips book trips even when the trip is not on one of their boats. So there is nothing wrong with Pips booking me for what I found out is called "bare bones charters." So after all these years I now know what I am doing, I am a bare bones charter guide.

The results of our lovely visit with the Coasties is that Pips will maintain my drug consortium card. That is a random drug testing program for their and customer's piece of mind. Also Captain Pips is eliminating their commission on trips which I think is unnecessary since they are providing me with a service. Anyway, the whole situation results in piece of mind for the other guides.

Other than the Coast Guard trip I haven't been doing much fishing, instead I have been teaching basic boating to a new house boat owner. For people new to large boats it can be a little over whelming the first time you drive 15 tons or more of boat up to a dock. Slow, slow and slow are the first three rules of boating in case you where wondering. Driving a twin engine boat of any size is pretty easy though as long as both engines work. The next part of the3 class will be what the heck to do when one or both quit working. I don't get many basic boating gigs but from what I hear I am pretty good at it.

Fishing wise things are still pretty great. Plenty of mackerel, snapper, sailfish and a few dolphin in the area along with an improved tarpon bite. The permit are staging for the spawn so that fishery will really heat up this month and continue until June. Starting the first of May the grouper fishery will be open again and the action should be hot.

If you like the World of Boating radio show listen in tomorrow because I will be a guest. We will be discussing bare bones charters and boating basics 101.


Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, bare bones guide trips, fishing 101 or boating 101 class so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

A Friendly Challenge

The past few days I haven't been fishing I have been teaching a new 38 foot boat owner how to maintain and operate his new vessel. Call it boating 101. Since I haven't been fishing and the last few trips I have had were catch and release, I get a lot of that by the way, one of the more successful local charter captains has issued me a challenge. He wants me to throw fish on the dock to back up my mouth.

I was brought up not to kill anything you don't eat and king mackerel is a fish I really don't care to eat anymore as do most of my customers. Still bringing big fish to the dock sells trips. Not a pretty part of the job, but something that has to be done on occasion. My quandary is that I need someone that actually likes King mackerel in fairly large quantities so that I can tighten this young gun up a touch. So I am willing to make a sweet heart deal to anyone with a taste for Kingfish just to make a point.

So here is the deal. First the fish have to be appreciated and not sold. I think anyone that sells their catch without a commercial license is a cheap scape prick. Second there is no charge for the trip, only any gratuity that the angler feels appropriate. Third the angler must have a digital camera so that I can download photos for my blog. Finally, no fish are cleaned until the youngster and all God's children in the neighborhood get a chance to do some oohs and awes. If you are up to the challenge let's rock this young gun's world.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Finally a Warming Trend!

It has been pure hell for the local fishing guides in the colder than normal temperatures. I have been fishing in six or more layers of clothes while my northern customers are in t-shirts. Though I have to admit there were days they had multi-layers on as well at least in the morning. This cold has changed the way many charters are doing business. Instead of the normal 8:00 start most are starting at 9:00 to let the sun get up a bit.

This brings me to another point about charter and guide trips. How long is a full day? Generally, 7 to 9 hours. For meat fishermen that can be a little less when the bite is exceptionally hot. Once the box is full or the crew has limited out it is time to head back to the dock. The trip can be a bit longer when the bite sucks early and picks up late. When conditions change like the current dies, the wind gets wicked or storms move in it is time to head for the barn. When this happens the charter captain will normally cut you some slack if the trip is less than 5 hours long. Over that it is generally considered a full day based on the catch.

When a trip sucks most captains try to schedule a do over at a reduced rate. We don't like refunding because most of us can't afford to eat the fuel, bait, tackle and crew costs. Luckily, it is very rare that we schedule trips when it is likely to be boring without letting the customers know in advance. We all have had trips when we knew it would be less than a chamber of commerce kinda out come before we hit the water. The only reason we run them is because vacations don't last forever and people start Jonesing to get on the water. Even on these trips we normally have enough action to satisfy most customers. So if you are a clock watcher, make sure you discuss things with your captain.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

So What's Happening?

I haven't fished for a few days due to weather and I am helping a new boat owner learn the ropes of driving and maintaining a much larger boat than he is used to. A lot more guys are fishing now with the spring break crowd in town. They have been doing well on both sides of the island. The only thing that is a little slow is the tarpon at the bridge.

Captain pips has started their own stimulus package offering a 20% discount on lodging if you book a charter with any of the boats in the marina. That includes Pips 36, Papa Pips, Catch'em all, Beckoning and the flats guides. Sorry no discount for me. Also Captain Pips is offering discounts to the Florida Sportsman Fishing Forum guys and maybe soon my blog followers.

The Captain Dallas approved Fillet Pro fishing cleaning tables are definitely ready to ship. I will be getting a discount code soon so my blog followers can get a pretty good discount. Don't know how long the introductory discount will be going on, but for at least a few months you can save $30 to $50 off the table cost.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Macks, Macks, Macks!

The weatherman kinda blew his call for the winds laying down so we did the bay thing. Plenty of Spanish Mackerel for any that want so dip or fish cakes. Remember that Porky's will smoke your macks for you and give you fish dip in exchange or smoked fish back.

The crew was Ted and Harold again out of Captain Pips. They had a ball catching a releasing Spanish to nearly six pounds. Lots of fun on light tackle. The mangrove bite was fast and furious but the fish were smaller than I like. Then we didn't spend much time looking for the bigger fish with all the mackerel action.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

A Fun Day of Catch and Release

Sunday was a lovely day of catching. My crew Ted and Harold from Ohio just wanted to catch and release a lot of fish. So after loading up with shrimp and pinfish while the winds where still a bit high we moved to one of my favorite rock piles in Hawks channel. Nearly every drop was a hook up with those pesky grouper that are closed being the number one bite followed by Mangrove, Lanes, Porgies, Black tip sharks and mackerel. Several of the Grouper were more than legal length and all were released unharmed.

After about 60 released fish and two fat Mangs kept for dinner we moved to the reef to get a few 'tails for appetizers. While the crew bumped the bottom for Porgies and such I used one of their pinfish rods to check for the 'tails in the slick. What was hooked up was not a 'tail. After several 100 plus yard runs, three trips around the boat and 30 minutes the fish finally was identified as a King Mackerel of about 30 pounds. On six pound test with no leader and a size two hook there was no way we were boating the fish. The crew though had a ball watching the king have its way with me on the light tackle while they enjoyed adult refreshments.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Mack Attack!

I wanted to hit the ocean side yesterday but my crew couldn't find their sea legs so it was Bay Side. Pretty constant Mackerel bite all day. The crew wanted action and some bigger fish so a few sharks rounded out their day. The mangrove bite was a bit off with the dirty water but there was still plenty of legal but not very impressive mangs available. The bait situation is pretty sucky. Haven't seen ballyhoo the last two weeks.

The weather looks great for this weekend and I have a trip for tomorrow that I may push back to Sunday to take advantage of the better weather which includes not freezing my butt off and lower winds. If you are a spur of the moment angler, put your spurs on and get down here.

In other news Porky's Bayside now has a website. So you can keep up on what the specials are and all that good stuff. Porky's also has a Facebook and Twitter pages.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Just to Keep you Up to Date

Today is chilly and windy but tomorrow should be nice at least wind wise. That means I have a trip and can put a little money in my clothes. The snapper fishing is still off the hook as well as a strong Mack bite.

This weekend is the Leon Shell Memorial Sailfish Tournament. Bait has been hard to come by so it will be wide open with everyone hunting for bait to get a leg up of the competition.

In April the second annual Seven Mile Marina Sharkathon Tournament is coming around again. Small but fun tourney. It is all release with fish having to be photographed with the five foot minimum measuring stick.

A lot of captains are singing the no customer blues and I am no exception. Still, I have a few trips trickling in and the weather is starting to get better. So there is a chance that we may make a decent season since the fish are ready to play.

I should be able to start pushing the fish cleaning table after this weekend. So I will be offering my blog readers and the Florida Sportsman Fishing Forum guy an early bird discount of some kind. I am think cash off for the do it yourself guys or a free base for the guys that don't want to be bothered. If you are interested in Your own Captain Dallas approved Fillet Pro fish cleaning table stay tuned.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas